Care specialist Cambian set to float in London
CARE homes and specialist schools operator Cambian is to join the London stock market in a float that is believed to value the firm at north of £500m.
Cambian announced its initial public offering yesterday, after a rise in outsourcing from local authorities and the NHS has given the firm a major chance to expand further.
The 10-year-old group runs 23 schools, 35 hospitals, 188 specialist homes and three fostering offices with a focus on people with learning difficulties, autism and mental health issues.
It estimates that 140,000 people in the country receive some form of specialist care, in a market worth £13bn.
The 10-year-old group owns the freehold on most of its purpose-built sites and posted a 9.8 per cent rise in earnings to £43.7m on revenues up 16 per cent to £214.3m last year.
The company plans to issue £20m of new shares while investors including its private equity backer GI Partners sell down, taking the free float above 50 per cent. The float will be marketed to institutional investors only in the UK and North America.
“It is the continuous quest for quality that allows us to actively enable each and every one of the people in our care to achieve their personal best. Becoming a listed entity will allow Cambian access to a permanent source of capital to facilitate this ambition,” said chief executive Saleem Asaria.
Cambian is the first care home provider to raise money on the London markets since care home operator Southern Cross went bust in 2011, prompting the government to introduce tougher rules on the financial health of care providers.
However, it follows biotech groups including cat allergy specialist Circassia and asthma drugs firm Vectura, which have both tapped the markets in the last week.
BEHIND THE DEAL
CANACCORD GENUITY | ROGER LAMBERT
1 Roger Lambert, Canaccord’s chairman of corporate broking, has spent several months working with GI Partners as it weighed up strategies for its holding in Cambian.
2 His team has been kept busy by the upswing in equity markets in the past year, helping to float estate agent Foxtons and acting as joint co-lead manager on Brit Insurance’s imminent return to the stock market.
3 Lambert is aiming to get a large handful of other firms out onto the market by the summer – meaning Canaccord’s team have had little time to celebrate their work on the Poundland IPO.
Also advising…
JP Morgan, led on this deal by Greg Chamberlain, continues its strong IPO run that includes 11 floats this year. James Taylor, James Mitford, Charles Pretzlik and Juha Anjala are also working with Cambian. At Numis, the team includes Alex Ham, Michael Meade, James Black and Tom Ballard. Rothschild is on board as financial adviser, led by Adam Young, Hedley Goldberg and Isambard Corbett.